


Mers

by TwilightRose



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, USUK - Freeform, and he doesn't make good life choices, arthur is a mermaid, but at the same time he does because he meets alfred?, i don't know life, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9136945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightRose/pseuds/TwilightRose
Summary: Arthur had known better than to swim towards the surface during a storm, but he had been so angry..... and now, he was stuck in a fishing net with no way out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Arthur is a merperson and their lifetimes are much longer than normal humans so Alfred is twelve and Arthur is 109 (which would be around 14 or 13 in human years)....

_A burning pain that covered his whole body._

It was the first thing that Arthur was aware of, and he groaned trying to flinch away from it, but he couldn’t move. Something was restricting him from making any movements and, as Arthur opened his eyes slowly, he realized that he was stuck in a net. A  _fishing net_. He gulped, as his heart thumped harder and his tail unconsciously tried to shift in anxiety. He thought back to the previous night but couldn’t remember how he had gotten stuck in this situation. The last thing he remembered was seething as he swam away from his home towards the shallower waters…. while a storm raged in the upper world.

Even now, a roiling mass of hurt and anger washed through him when he thought of yesterday’s events.  _He_  had been the one who had found those comfortable caves, the one who had claimed that niche of glowing crystals, the one who had brought the softest of moss to line the ground of the prospective homes. His  _brothers_  were the ones who had taken the credit, who had wooed their mermaids with  _his_  jewels,  _his_  home. It was the highest of offence for a merperson to take another’s claimed space, but his brothers were stronger and they were family, so Arthur couldn’t even tell anyone for fear of looking jealous. 

And now, because of his folly, he was in trouble. He shouldn’t have tested his luck by going so close to the shore. He  _knew_  better than this. As a young merperson, he had learned when not to test the water of his home. 

The water had probably swept him up in their current and gotten him tangled in the net. Arthur tried to look around and find out where he was. Without having to look, he could already see that the water was lit with the sun’s rays, so he was relatively close to the water’s surface. If he turned a little, he could see the ocean’s ground far down below with its glinting golden sand, so he felt safe in inferring that he was much closer to the surface than he had thought originally. Even now, he fought back a flinch when he felt his tail pierce the surface and be met with the invasive cold air of the world above. Arthur sighed in relief, an action which showed itself in bubbles leaving his mouth, as his tail was pushed back down relatively soon by the waves. 

He had to find a way out before the owner of this net found  _him_. Arthur had heard the stories that every other merperson knew. The ones that told of the poor merpeople who were unfortunate enough to be caught by humans and were speared and hung as trophies, of the merpeople that were enslaved and the ones who were made into  _attractions_. 

Arthur’s breath came in short gasps as he started to panic at the thought of being captured. He  _didn’t_  want to end up like all the merpeople in the stories. His panicking ended up causing his tail to thrash more and, in turn, cause him to get even more tangled. This caused him to thrash even  _more_  and in turn get even more tangled. 

Arthur forced himself to still and take deep breaths. Panicking wasn’t helping him at all. He winced as the tight coils of the net dug into his human skin  _and_  rubbed against the scales of his tail. 

His poor [tail](http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/qtrigger.jpg) with its dark blue fin and almost glowing lining of a lighter blue- the same lighter blue that surrounded the part of the fin that transitioned into the larger tail and then faded into the transitioning, shifting colors of gold, purple, and sapphire. The rope tugged at the more sensitive scales, loosening them and causing shivers of pain to go up Arthur’s spine. Arthur tried to move into a more comfortable position but the ropes refused to loosen.

He wasn’t going anywhere. 

Arthur relaxed in defeat, letting the net hold him without anymore struggle. There was nothing he could do now. Maybe his family would realize that he was missing and come after him…..

Or they could all be celebrating all three of his brothers’ courting and not sparing a thought for the youngest boy. They probably thought that he was off having a tantrum somewhere. 

They weren’t  _wrong_  but sometimes Arthur wished his family was more close knit so that he could be sure that someone was at least  _looking_  for him when he got into situations like this. 

Arthur scanned the empty space, hoping to see a fellow fish or crab, but there was no one in sight. The water was completely vacant the one day Arthur would be happy to be bothered by others. On the other hand, no one was there to see his pathetic state.

A distant roar snapped Arthur out of his sulking. He tried to turned towards it and stiffened when he saw something moving in the distance. Could that be.. a fish? He frowned when he realized that it was way too big to be a tiny fish and the ripples were far to destructive to be predator. It was a… human  _boat_.

Arthur froze in fear and hoped it would keep going over him. His wish was not granted as the ripples started to slow and the metallic sheen of the human transportation stopped close to him, almost  _over_  him, and cast a dark shadow over everything underneath it. From under the boat, Arthur could see the brighter sea on either side of him but, wasn’t able to free himself and take hold of the liberation the water taunted him with. Arthur’s tail twitched involuntarily and Arthur forcibly stilled it. He could hear the vibration of whatever animal drove the boat onward and, over the all encompassing thrumming, the lighter vibrations of the humans speaking.

Arthur hoped that the human didn’t own this net, that they weren’t here to look for food. 

The boat above him creaked as the humans moved and yelled. Arthur’s breath froze as a soft current pushed his tail up so that it was rubbing slightly against the hard metal of the boat.  It was cold and lifeless just like everything the humans touched. 

It was a relief when the current faded and Arthur’s tail was free to move away from the boat, though Arthur still wasn’t able to guide it as well as he wanted because of the net. His body tensed more as he felt the humans- or maybe it was just one because these vibrations weren’t as ‘loud’ as when the humans had been all together- move to edge of the boat. He could see one of the human’s tails dipping down tentatively into the water before becoming more confident and plunging all the way down. 

It was coming into the  _ocean_. 

Arthur tried to will it away with his mind but the human kept entering slowly pausing, Arthur assumed from the vibrations, to talk to the others before it kept going. Luckily, it’s head stayed above the water so Arthur felt safe in assuming that it would not be able to see him. Humans probably weren’t used to water, after all, and couldn’t see through it as well as Arthur could. 

But… as he examined the human’s flailing body, he found that it was smaller than he had expected (and he caught a glimpse of golden strands of hair as the human’s chin briefly dipped underwater because of the waves). In fact, it was just a bit smaller than Arthur’s own size. Arthur knew that humans had a much shorter life than mermaids did so young humans probably weren’t as uncommon as young merpeople were. His own brothers were 30 years older than him. In fact, his parents had been held in awe by the mersociety when they had decided to have three children in three successive years. Then they had decided they didn’t want any more which was, of course, when Arthur had decided to make himself known. 

So Arthur couldn’t really fault himself for being enraptured by the tiny arms and tails that the little human had. He had never seen anyone so close to his age. As a mermaid, Arthur thought that this human would be just nine years younger than Arthur. Arthur was brought back to reality when another bigger tail started to emerge from the boat and intrude the water. Arthur closed his eyes in fear, unable to think of what would happen if the adult decided to look into the water. A boy might dismiss him as a product of his imagination but an adult would be sure to check. But, to Arthur’s relief, the human didn’t seem to want to get into the water and the tail soon retreated back onto the boat. 

While the fully grown humans seemed to be happy to remain on their boat, the little human seemed to love the water and Arthur watched as it splashed this way and that, though it made sure that it stayed close to the boat and didn’t really dunk his head in the water. That was for the best, Arthur supposed. If the boy saw him, it was sure to call its caretakers and that would end in bad things all around. But still, Arthur couldn’t shake the slightest sliver of disappointment that he would probably not see the boy’s whole form. 

Of course, as soon as Arthur thought he was relatively safe, the boy chose to finally dunk his head in the water and immediately locked eyes with Arthur. The glinting golden hair that Arthur had glimpsed briefly before floated around in the water and the sun’s rays made it seem like his hair was glowing. The human was just starting to lose his baby fat and had the same youthful look Arthur himself had sported a mere decade ago. His eyes were the same color as the ocean around them, but they were too light to be the dark blue of the ocean and Arthur was instead reminded of the azure of the sky. Arthur noticed that he was wearing something made of glass over his eyes... maybe it helped him see so well in the water…  

Arthur almost forgot to react to the boy’s sudden movement in his shock. Then, as precious seconds passed, he became aware of the situation and started to struggle against the bonds that held him and  _wasn’t_  it funny, he had almost forgotten about the net in his fascination with the human. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going anywhere he gave up for the last time and stared up in growing terror at the boy. While Arthur was preoccupied thrashing and getting himself even more tangled than he already was, the boy had taken the opportunity to swim closer to Arthur and tentatively reach out to touch his tail. Arthur held still, watching the curious human warily, and shivered at the gentle touch on his sensitive scales.  Slowly, the human boy took his hand back before scanning Arthur’s form with a frown, his arms and tails treading the water to help in stay in place. 

Arthur wondered how the human still had enough air to breathe. Almost as if he could read Arthur’s thoughts, the boy made a break for the surface a moment later with a resolute scowl on his face. Soon after, the boy was gone from Arthur’s view as he climbed onto the boat.

This was it. Arthur was going to be in  _real_  trouble after this. As he waited anxiously for the boy to come back with the adults. However, there were no commotion from the boat- no splashing and yelling to get down and look at the weird creature in the water. Maybe… the boy hadn’t alerted anyone?

He stared at the boat with a slightly more hopeful face. 

The boy’s legs appeared again after a little while and this time he didn’t dawdle but plunged straight into the water and purposely started to swim towards Arthur. Arthur stared in amazement as the boy started to snip at the net’s strand with a very sharp pointy object. All his life, he had been told that humans were dangerous and that no merperson should take the risk of going near them but here was a human  _helping_  Arthur. 

Arthur started to wonder how much of what he had learned was fake. 

The boy had cut away most of the constricting ropes around Arthur’s arms, giving Arthur enough mobility to move his upper body. Arthur experimentally moved his arms and twisted around to look at the boy who had moved on to his tail. Arthur could see that the boy was running out of breath, so he pushed him towards the surface, but the boy stubbornly stayed put and sawed at the edge of the net harder. Arthur scowled and pushed hard enough for the boy to move a few feet away from him, wondering at the softness of the boy’s skin. The boy finally got the message and started to head for the surface, breaking the surface with a huge splash and moving to the edge of the boat so that he could catch his breath. 

The older humans seemed not to have noticed his disappearance as there was no yelling or thumping from the top of the boat. Arthur used his new mobility to use his arms to go closer to the surface of the boat, towards the edge where he could see the boy’s legs dangling into the ocean. He place a tentative hand on the cool bottom of the boat to steady himself and continued until the boy’s legs were swaying in front of him. 

Now that he was closer, Arthur could see that the human’s tail were unlike other tails he had seen. There were two of them and they were made of the same skin that Arthur himself had on his arms. The fins of the two tails were shaped more weirdly than anything he had seen before and he could see the delicate bones jutting out from them at the end, covered by only a thin stretch of smooth skin. Arthur glanced quickly up to see if the boy was looking at him, but he was still trying to catch his breath. His eyes once again focused on the tails. It was only fair right? The boy had touched his tail so… Arthur should get to touch his. 

Slowly Arthur raised his fingers, pausing to make sure he wasn’t attracting from the humans. Doubt struck him when he was just a second from touching the human’s right tail and he pulled his hand back. What if the human panicked? He would surely attract the attention of the older humans and then Arthur would be in trouble. Speaking of which, why was Arthur not taking this chance to get away from the boat? He had enough mobility to get far enough. 

Even as Arthur thought this, a niggling feeling of guilt snaked into his heart at the thought of abandoning the human child. If he left now, Arthur would be repaying his help by leaving him behind. It was this thought that pushed Arthur to stay in place and wait for the human to come back in the water. He didn’t try to touch the human again. It would be best to not test his luck. 

The blond human shifted and started to stir again. Arthur backed away from him, wondering if he was coming back down to finish helping him. He was right. The human suddenly took leaped into the ocean, startling Arthur. From his dark, safe hiding place, he could see the human joyously splash around a bit before diving in fully and turning to look for Arthur. Arthur was blinded by his smile. 

The blond person frowned slightly when he found that Arthur was not in his previous spot and, for a second, Arthur believed that he wouldn’t have to make a decision about abandoning the human. However, the human soon spotted Arthur hiding close to the boat’s bottom and swam towards him, his smile once again causing Arthur to blush and avert his eyes. 

As soon as the human reached Arthur, he got to work. Arthur watched him saw at the rope that dug into his tail with confusion. Now that he wasn’t terrified by the thought of being found, he could think more about why the little human was helping him. Arthur frowned, his brows furrowing in consternation. “I don’t understand.”

The human didn’t answer, unable to hear him in the water. 

Arthur found that with the human’s sharp stone, the net was easily shredded, leaving Arthur with full mobility. The human watched surveyed Arthur’s free form with satisfaction as Arthur stretch his legs and slowly wiggled his tail. Arthur blushed again when he saw the boy staring at him and, putting one hand on the bottom of the boat to steady himself, ineffectively pushed the human towards the surface, marveling once again at the soft skin. “I  _know_  you’re running out of air. You can’t breathe underwater, you know.” 

The human pouted but this time easily let himself be led to the surface. Arthur followed him, though he made sure not to touch the boy to much and refused to break the surface of the water. This didn’t stop the boy to continuously duck under the water to stare at Arthur as if making sure he wasn’t a dream. Arthur spent the rest of the morning, and a good part of the afternoon, letting himself be touched and prodded as the boy continuously dove underwater to examine Arthur and playful swim circles around him until he was dizzy, goading Arthur into swimming after him in vengeance. Of course Arthur, being the merman of the two, easily overwhelmed the human boy. Not that he was as petty as to take count, of course. Once or twice the other humans on the boat made commotion and moved this way and that, though they didn’t notice the boy’s occupation and neither did they try to enter the ocean. Every time, Arthur became alert and stiffened, ready to flee at a moment’s notice, as the worried boy looked on. Other than that, there wasn’t really any reason for Arthur to be worried (other than the fact that he couldn’t talk to the boy but that wasn’t really a reason to be worried, more like a reason to be sad). The boy had shown himself to be worthy of Arthur’s trust already and Arthur really doubted that he could catch an unrestricted merman anyway. 

However, eventually the other humans started to move and pack up and call for the boy. Arthur smiled sadly as the boy broke the surface with a glum face, climbing onto the edge of the boat to talk to the other humans for a few seconds before quickly jumping back in. He swam quickly to where Arthur was waiting for him, a few feet under the water. Arthur was startled as he was pulled into an unexpectedly strong hug. Slowly, he relaxed and returned it, marveling at how warm the boy was. 

As the hug ended, Arthur looked at the boy’s face and smiled once again, this time more happily. “I suppose it’s time to say our farewells.”

The boy, watched Arthur’s mouth move, unable to understand him, though Arthur thought that he had a good idea of what was being said. In response the boy sadly took his hand as he started to go up to the surface for one last time. Arthur let himself be led until he was just an inch from breaking the water, but then he let go off the boy’s hand and the boy resurfaced alone. Arthur watched him start to climb out of the water for the last time with an unbearable sadness. He had just found someone his own age, someone he could possibly be close to and now, having caught a glimpse of a wonderful future, he was being left alone. 

Lost in his own thoughts, Arthur was caught by surprise when the boy turned and jumped into the water, quickly ducking his head under the surface to give Arthur a kiss against his cheek before leaving just as fastly. Arthur was left in the water with a quick glance of a daring grin, bright ocean eyes and a soft warmth encasing his whole body. The boat above him began to thrum and Arthur watched as it slowly started to move away from him. He could see the distorted shadow of the boy leaning over the boat’s railing and looking back at him. 

Arthur quickly made decision, leaving no room for doubt, and surfaced the water for the first time since he was a mere reckless ten year old. It was brighter than he was used to, and, for a second, he was blinded by the bright sunlight. Then his vision cleared and he was assaulted by the feeling of cold air on his wet skin. But the uncomfortable sensation was worth it because, even though the boat was a way’s away, Arthur could see how the boy’s figure suddenly lightened as he started to wave frantically and a big smile spread across his face. 

“Hi!” Arthur’s eyes widened when the boy spoke. His high voice was like velvet, pleasing to Arthur’s ears. Arthur wanted to hear more of it. But he was already far away and he would probably not hear any attempt from Arthur to communicate. Arthur started to swim forward, trying to keep up with the boat but it was too late and the boat was already picking up speed. The boy noticed and leaned farther over the railing, his voice rising over the roar of the moving vessel. “I’m Alfred!”

Alfred. A nice enough name, Arthur supposed. Arthur stopped trying to keep up, seeing clearly that his quest was hopeless. He could see the boy’s shoulders slump slightly in disappointment and felt a pang in his own heart at the sight. Arthur sucked in a big breath of air and shouted. “Arthur! I’m Arthur!”

The boy jerked in surprise and Arthur could just see the return of the huge smile and hear the traces of his reply. “Let’s meet again Arthur!”

And then he was gone. They would probably never meet again. Arthur stared after him forlornly, all alone in the water. “Let’s meet again Alfred.”

Then he turned around and slipped back in the water, his tail slightly piercing the ocean’s surface as he dove. Once again in the comfortable arms of the water, Arthur stopped, quietly reflecting on his day. He knew that he would never forget it, but he also knew that he was unlikely to ever experience such a thing again. The best he could do would be to remember it and never forget meeting Alfred. Having made his final decision, Arthur turned towards the deeper ocean. If he went that way, he would eventually get to familiar surroundings. Without another word, he started to swim away, and soon the ocean ground was once again empty of life.

**Author's Note:**

> So that’s it. A late christmas present for everyone :) I have a whole background and story built for this fic actually but there’s not much of a chance that I will get around to writing all of it. But everyone can always ask me about it and I’ll tell you about the mechanics of the universe and storyline and such....


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